An old soul

There are those days in Kruger when you can just end up driving for kilometres on end without seeing any animals.

My friend, Anthony, and I had one of those drives on a rainy morning in Kruger National Park. To make it worse, it was a gravel road that felt like it was never going to end.

We set out the morning hoping to hit some open grassland and view some Lions and Cheetah. Unfortunately the morning did not deliver any of it.

What we did come across, eventually, were some very old African Buffalo. They are one of the Big 5 animals.

This old buffalo made its way up from the Sabie River. It is very interesting to see the older animals in the park. One tends to wonder what encounters these old souls have had to deal with over time. The older buffalo can be rather irritable and temperamental so we kept a safe distance while viewing them.

Along the road we came across many nooks and crannies that could be the ideal place to spot some game or even the more elusive animals. Yet, there was not much to be seen besides a few birds.

We circled a muddy waterhole and decided to park there for a while, hoping that something would come our way. We scanned a large field opposite the waterhole. Nothing.

Then from out yonder, we saw some movement. We grabbed the binoculars and managed to spot some more buffalo. These weren’t as old as the first sighting, but they were moving at a crawling pace. They did not seem phased about anything and just carried on with their mission.

We watched the buffalo stop for a very brief moment at the waterhole and then they proceeded to move into the bush.